A Glimpse of Life in Black and White

I had the nicest visit with my dad and stepmom last week.  Besides eating yummy food and catching up on each other's news, we spent a lot of time right here at the table, scanning old photographs.  I enjoyed this so much and felt like it was time well spent.   Emotions ran high as we laughed at the amusing pictures and felt sadness for those we love who have passed on, leaving tender memories behind.  My dad has tons of family photos and it will take more than a few trips to scan all the ones I would like to have, but we made some real headway on this visit.   Even though he has done a good job of taking care of these photos (and has already scanned a good number of them), some of the oldest are quickly deteriorating.  I feel relieved that many of these are now "saved" on my computer.  And I'm surprised by how nicely even my simple photoshopping program, improved their quality.  

I recently read this book and enjoyed it very much.  I found it so interesting that the content of this fictional story was inspired by old photographs the author found in an antique store.  Old photos really do speak volumes, don't they?  As I looked at my own family photos, I had all kinds of questions popping up in my mind.  Who were these people?  What were their lives like?  What kind of work did they do?  What made them happy and sad?  What were their strengths and weaknesses?  And of course, I'm transported back to a time when many things were much more simple than they are now, but also much more difficult too.  Just wait to you see the pictures I have of my dad vacationing with his family on the New River.  I'm still in awe over them.  Luckily for me, my dad can answer many of  my questions, but there are things he doesn't remember.  It's so important to record thoughts, take lots of pictures and tell stories.  This is family history at it's best.

Want to see some cool old photos?  Lets do a little time travel, back to Yadkin County, NC. where my ancestors built their homes and families.  This is my dad's family line on his father's side, but I have pictures from his mother's family as well.  I'll share those another time.

This is Harbert Sturdivant, and his second wife, Sarah Martin.  He lived to age 87, and was a Civil War veteran.  These were my great, great grandparents and believe it or not, they lived in this house.

This is my great grandfather, Charlie Cornelius Sturdivant and great grandmother, Mary Hager. 

And this is their family, with my grandfather being the sixth in line from the left. 

Great Grandpa Charlie as an older man.  

He built the front part of this house on the family farm and this is where my grandparents lived much of their married lives.  The original log cabin is under that siding and part of this house was used to store liquor during prohibition.  Interesting, huh?

This is Charlie's son, my grandfather, who we affectionately called Big Daddy, 

and my grandmother, who was Nana to us.

 Here they are, goofing off while on vacation. This picture just makes me smile.  My memories of my grandparents are good ones and I always felt peace when in their home.  I think much of that can be credited to my Nana, not because Big Daddy wasn't a good man, but because she was so extraordinarily good.  As an adult, I would pack up my kids and go to Nana's farm for days at a time, just so I could feel her sweet spirit and the peacefulness of being in her home.  It was a respite for me.  And now I'm so glad I did that, not only for myself, but so my kids would have good memories of her as well.  And they do, especially her food.  The woman could create a spread of food that would make any table groan under it's weight.  And she did it pretty much every day.  

 Now, for those vacation pictures I hinted about at the beginning of the post. Folks, these photos take the concept of family camping to a whole new level.  I had the best time listening to the stories behind these. My grandparents and their friends, loaded up their families and went to the New River to camp during the summer.  My dad has fond memories of these vacations.  Can you imagine loading up this and heading out?  I've heard the tale of how they also took live chickens to butcher, so they could have some fine meals while they were "roughing it".  I've always said camping was a lot of work.  I had no idea.

Look at the boys coming out the back...

Just imagine...

Meet Miss Murphy, the outdoor toilet constructed by my Big Daddy.  Can you believe it?  This makes girls camp look a dream vacation.

I bet your asking yourself why on earth would anyone go through all that, to go on vacation.  Well, it was a beautiful place to get away from day to day life.  Although, for my nana, I expect it was no vacation.  Yes, she was a good woman.

Here are a couple of ways you could get across the river.  I guess you could swim too.   

I can't end this without a few pictures of the fourth generation of the Sturdivant line, my sweet daddy.  That's him on the left with his brother Bill.

Birthday time.  I think it's interesting that birthday pictures were taken outside.  I forgot to ask him why.  Today, we would take birthday cake pictures around the table.   

And you thought selfies were a new fad.  Dad was doing this a long time ago!